"Hayden deserved the championship win, however, he earned that one by the skin of his teeth (and a string of fortuitous circumstances). Nobody said that Hayden can't ride, but many have stated the he is average. Can you really argue otherwise with a straight face?"

And...if Hayden wasn't "SPEARED" by Pedrosa, the win would have been far more significant. Hayden was beating Rossi handily at the last race of 2006 and was catching both Bayliss and Capirex. He only slowed down when the pit board showed him that Rossi dumped the bike. He's far better than average as a rider, but there are also many "far better than average riders" in MotoGP. Just look at Spies for example. He walked all over WSBK but in MotoGP he's just an "average" rider. The difference is Hayden has a MotGP title and odds are, Ben will not.

Dani = 15 wins, Nicky = 3 wins. You can spin that all you want Brian, and maybe Nicky really never got a good shot at having a bike developed for him, but numbers dont lie. Nicky is a great rider, but hes never shown pace enough to catch up to the mother ship. In fact It was Dani who fell back to protect Nicky in Valencia, a track for which Dani is much faster than Nicky at.

Drag stir,you are quite correct.We have had it thrown in our face for years that the Ducati top speed advantage won Stoner the championship.Well,did anyone notice the top speeds through the speed trap in Qatar?The fastest speed recorded was 209mph by Hector Barbera on,yes you guessed it,a Ducati.If top speed down the straight is such an advantage why didnt he win the race?Lorenzo did,and his top speed was 204mph.A full 5mph slower than the Ducati!This seems to suggest that there is more to winning a race than sheer top speed down the straight.You wont convince the 46 brigade though!

I guess it depends on how you define average. You may be right about Spies. Maybe he'll never gain a title, but I'd rate Spies slightly above Hayden (in the spectrum of riders). In his maiden GP season, he still out-paced Hayden by a significant margin, and even picked up a race win and more podiums. I will give merit to the fact that Hayden is on the Ducati though, so the comparison is admittedly skewed (or the waters are muddied, pick your analogy) when you compare the Yamaha to the GP.

I have bad news for all you Rossi fans that think,because it looks like Jerez will be a rain race,that Rossi has a chance . When they tested at Jerez it rained most of the 2nd day,and the Ducati GP12 was worse in the wet then the dry,and both Rossi and Hayden said,it was way worse then last years bike in the wet. By the way pcxmac, Nicky is verry fast at Valencia when he is on a decnt bike, he was 2nd only.1 of a second behind Melandri in 2005.Before Rossi crashed in 2006 he was only .1 of a second behind Bayliss,and had gapped Pedrosa by about .5 a second every lap before he settled for 3rd. He even crashed out of 2nd at Valenica in 2010 on a Ducati .

For all of yo out there saying Rossi won't find a ride next year the proof in the comments posted on this web site. You guys really think that any company will ignore this much publicity, remember good or bad publity is better then no publicity at all. And by the way look at Yamaha still struggling to secure a title sponsor for the second year in row, that would never have happed if Vle was still there. It's just crazy to see so many post related to 1 rider. Even at this he beats Stoner.

Agostini recently commented to an Italian journalist about Rossi, "It is like an orange, you can keep squeezing it, but at a certain point ther is no more juice." Ago lived it. He knows, perhaps better than any man alive.

@Realist: You were on the right track. The 800s weren't built for Nicky. He was testing parts for Pedro/Rossi/Max/etc on 800s and 990s. He's now on a subpar GP bike and has been since 2010. Spies is on a better bike but even with a far better ride he's not showing his worth. If they were both on the same bike then and only then could you say Spies was better. Spies, to my knowledge, is not a test rider for Lorenzo. If Nicky was ever pronounced the #1 rider on a Yamaha or Honda, he'd be no worse than 3rd and could win several races per year. He has the work ethic that proves the merit of a great rider. He doesn't control the circumstances he is in. He just does the best he can.

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